Deodorizer for refrigerator

ABSTRACT

A deodorizer for a refrigerator is formed of a mesh type material having fine multiple pores through which the air in the refrigerator passes and the material having multiple pleats so as to enlarge a surface area coming in contact with the air, thereby maximizing a Surface area coming in contact with the cool air and accordingly, improving deodorizing performance.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a deodorizer for a refrigerator, andmore particularly, to a deodorizer for a refrigerator capable ofimproving deodorizing performance by increasing a surface area coming incontact with the cool air.

2. Description of the Background Art

In general, a refrigerator maintains freshness of food items as cool aircooled by a freezing cycle is sent to a freezing compartment (chamber)and a refrigerating compartment (chamber) to freeze food items stored inthe freezing compartment or to maintain food items stored in therefrigerating compartment at a low temperature.

In the refrigerating compartment, food items are stored at a temperaturethat is higher than a freezing point, unlike the freezing compartment inwhich the food items are stored in a frozen state. For this reason, thesmell (odor) is generated from the food items stored in therefrigerating compartment. In order to remove such odor generated fromvarious food items stored in the refrigerating compartment, a deodorizeris installed inside the refrigerating compartment.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a general refrigerator.

A general side by side type refrigerator includes a main body 10 havinga receiving space therein; a freezing compartment 12 disposed at one ofleft and right sides of the main body 10, for keeping frozen items; anda refrigerating compartment 14 separated from the freezing compartment12 by a mullion wall 16 and disposed at the other one of the left andright sides of the main body 10, for keeping cooled items.

A heat exchanger 18 by which air is cooled while passing therethrough,and a blowing fan 20 for forcedly sending the air cooled by the heatexchanger 18 into the refrigerating compartment 14 are installed at arear upper wall of the freezing compartment 12.

A cool-air supply passage 22 through which the cool air is supplied fromthe blowing fan 20 into the refrigerating compartment 14 is formed at anupper side of the mullion wall 16, and a cool-air suction passage 24through which the cool air, which has completed cooling operation whilecirculating inside the refrigerating compartment 14, is introduced tothe heat exchanger 18 is formed at a lower side of the mullion wall 16.

The refrigerating compartment 14 is provided with a rear cool-airdischarge duct 26 communicating with the cool-air supply passage 22 andinstalled at a rear wall of the refrigerating compartment, fordischarging the cool air from the rear of the refrigerating compartment14; a left cool-air discharge duct 28 installed at the left side of therefrigerating compartment 14, for discharging the cool air from the leftside of the refrigerating compartment 14; and a right cool-air dischargeduct 30 for discharging the cool air from the right side of therefrigerating compartment 14.

The cool-air suction passage 24 is installed with a deodorizer assembly32 for removing the odor contained in the cool air which has completedcooling operation for food items stored in the refrigerating chamberwhile circulating inside the refrigerating chamber.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a deodorizer assemblyaccording to the conventional art.

The deodorizer assembly according to the conventional art includes acase 110 mounted at the cool-air suction passage 24 and having areceiving space 116 and a plurality of through holes 118 through whichcool air passes; a deodorizer 114 mounted in the receiving space 116,for removing the odor when the cool air passes therethrough; and a cover112 mounted at the case 110, protecting the deodorizer 114 and having aplurality of through holes 120 through which the cool air passes.

The deodorizer 114 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape with a certainthickness to be inserted in the receiving space 116 of the case 110, anda plurality of through holes 124 through which the cool air passes areformed at the deodorizer 114.

The operation of the deodorizer assembly according to the conventionalart will now be described.

The cool air which has circulated inside the refrigerating chamber 14 issucked through the through holes 120 of the cover 112 and passes throughthe through holes 124 formed at the deodorizer 114, whereby the odorcontained in the cool air is removed. Then, the deodorized cool air bythe deodorizer 114 is introduced to the cool-air suction passage 24through the through holes 118 of the case 110.

However, the deodorizer assembly according to the conventional art hasfollowing problems.

Because the odor is removed while the cool air passes through thethrough holes 124 formed at the deodorizer 114, if an area of thethrough hole 124 is formed to be large, the odor of the cool air passingthrough the through hole 124 is partially removed, which results indeterioration of deodorizing performance. Also, if the area of thethrough hole 124 is formed to be small, flow resistance of the air isgenerated, and thus the air cannot be smoothly sucked therein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a deodorizerfor a refrigerator capable of improving deodorizing performance byforming a mesh type deodorizer and thus maximizing a surface area comingin contact with cool air.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purposeof the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein,there is provided a deodorizer for a refrigerator formed of a mesh typematerial having multiple pores through which the air in the refrigeratorpasses, and the material having multiple pleats so as to enlarge asurface area coming in contact with the air.

The material is formed by covering a surface of a support member, whichhas fine multiple pores and is repeatedly folded, with carbon nano ballsperforming deodorizing operation.

The support member is made of a fiber.

The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of thepresent invention will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of the present invention when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute aunit of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a general side by side type refrigerator;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a deodorizer for arefrigerator according to the conventional art;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a deodorizer for arefrigerator according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a deodorizer for a refrigerator accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of part A of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a deodorizer for a refrigeratoraccording to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings.

There may be a plurality of embodiments for a deodorizer for arefrigerator according to the present invention, and hereinafter, themost preferred embodiment will be explained.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a deodorizer for arefrigerator according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is asectional view of a deodorizer for a refrigerator according to thepresent invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the refrigerator according to the present inventionincludes a main body 10 having a receiving space therein; a freezingcompartment 12 disposed at one of left and right sides of the main body10, for storing frozen food items; a refrigerating compartment 14separated from the freezing compartment 12 by a mullion wall 16,disposed at the other one of the left and right sides of the main body10, for storing cooled food items; and a deodorizer assembly 32installed at one side of the refrigerating compartment 14, for removingthe odor generated from the food items stored in the refrigeratingcompartment 14.

A heat exchanger 18 by which air is cooled while passing therethroughand a blowing fan 20 for forcedly sending the air cooled by the heatexchanger 18 are installed at a rear upper wall of the refrigeratingcompartment 12.

A cool-air supply passage 22 through which the cool air is supplied fromthe blowing fan 20 into the refrigerating compartment 14 is formed at anupper side of the mullion wall 16, and a cool-air suction passage 24through which the cool air, which has completed its cooling operationwhile circulating inside the refrigerating compartment 14, is introducedto a heat exchanger 18 is formed at a lower side of the mullion wall 16.

The refrigerating compartment 14 is provided with a rear cool-airdischarge duct 26 communicating with the cool-air supply passage 22 andinstalled at a rear wall of the refrigerating compartment 14, fordischarging the cool air from the rear of the refrigerating compartment14; a left cool-air discharge duct 28 installed at a left side of therefrigerating compartment 14, for discharging the cool air from the leftside of the refrigerating compartment 14; and a right cool-air dischargeduct 30 installed at the right side of the refrigerating compartment 14,for discharging the cool air from the right side of the refrigeratingcompartment 14.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the deodorizer assembly 32 is installed onthe cool-air suction passage 24 and circulates inside the refrigeratingcompartment, removing the odor contained in the cool air which hascompleted cooling operation for food items stored in the refrigeratingcompartment. Such a deodorizer assembly may be installed at any positionthrough which the cool air passes besides the cool-air suction passage24.

Such a deodorizer assembly 32 includes a deodorizer 50 formed in a meshtype material having a plurality of fine pores 52; a case 60 having areceiving space having the deodorizer 50 therein, and mounted in therefrigerating compartment; and a cover 70 detachably mounted to the case60, for preventing detachment of the deodorizer 50 from the case 60.

Here, the case 60 and the cover 70 are provided with cool-air passages64 and 74. A hinge portion 76 for rotatably connecting the cover 70 tothe case 60 is formed between the case 60 and the cover 70, a hook 80 isformed at the cover 70, and a hook hole 84 by which the hook 80 ishooked is formed at the case 60. In such a manner, the cover 70 is fixedto the case 60.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the deodorizer 50 includes a support member54 having fine multiple pores 52 and multiple pleats so as to maximize asurface area coming in contact with the cool air; and carbon nano balls56 applied on a surface of the support member 54 by a spraying method,for removing the odor.

Here, preferably, the support member 54 is made of a fiber or asynthetic resin material.

The carbon nano ball 56 is a hollow carbon structure with a size of200˜500 nm and can effectively absorb bad smell components and anorganic material in the air by having pores of a few nm and surfaceabsorptive capacity. The carbon nano ball 56 has BET surface area (1450m²/g) which is about twice as much as activated carbon, a mesopore area(880 m²/g) which is about six times as much as the activated carbon, anda pore volume (1.27 cm³/g) which is about twice as much as the activatedcarbon. In comparison with the activated carbon, the carbon nano ballhas a malodorous-gas removing force which is eight times as much asammonia, ten times as much as methyl mercaptan and twelve times as muchas timethylamine.

The operation of the deodorizer assembly according to the presentinvention will now be described.

A mesh type deodorizer 50 having fine multiple pores 52 is stored in thereceiving space of the case 60, the case 60 is covered with a cover 70,and the hook 80 formed at the cover 70 is hooked by the hook hole 84formed at the case 60, thereby completing assembly of the deodorizerassembly. Then, the assembled deodorizer assembly is mounted at thecool-air suction passage 14.

When the refrigerator is driven, the blowing fan 20 is rotated,supplying the cool air cooled by the heat exchanger 18 into therefrigerating compartment 14 through the cool-air supply passage 22. Thesupplied cool air performs cooling operation for various food itemsstored within the refrigerating compartment 14, and the cool air whichhas completed the cooling operation while circulating inside therefrigerating compartment 14 is re-circulated to the heat exchanger 18through the cool-air suction passage 24. At this time, the cool airpasses through the deodorizer assembly installed at the cool-air suctionpassage 24, thereby removing the odor contained in the cool air.

Here, because the deodorizer 50 is formed in a mesh type material havingfine multiple pores 52, the cool air can pass therethrough with littleflow resistance, making the smooth flow. Because the deodorizer 50 has astructure of being repetitively folded, a surface area coming in contactwith the cool air can be maximized, thereby improving a deodorizingeffect.

Effects of the deodorizer assembly for a refrigerator according to thepresent invention, constructed and operated as described above, will nowbe explained.

The deodorizer according to the present invention may maximizedeodorizing capacity because carbon nano balls cover its surface toperform deodorization.

In addition, because the deodorizer is formed in a mesh type having finemultiple pores, flow resistance of the cool air is not generated, andthus the smooth flow of the cool air can be made.

Also, the deodorizer has a structure of being repetitively folded, sothat a surface area coming in contact with the cool air can bemaximized, improving deodorizing performance.

As the present invention may be embodied in several forms withoutdeparting from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, itshould also be understood that the above-described embodiments are notlimited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unlessotherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within itsspirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore allchanges and modifications that fall within the metes and bounds of theclaims, or equivalence of such metes and bounds are therefore intendedto be embraced by the appended claims.

1. A deodorizer for a refrigerator, formed of a mesh type materialhaving multiple pores through which the air in the refrigerator passesand the material having multiple pleats so as to enlarge a surface areacontacting with the air.
 2. The deodorizer of claim 1, wherein thematerial comprises: a support member having multiple pores and multiplepleats; and a carbon nano ball coated on a surface of the supportmember, for performing deodorization.
 3. The deodorizer of claim 2,wherein the support member is composed of fiber.